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Chapter 1
The first chapter of the book 'Lord of the Flies' in which we are introduced to the main characters and problems which may occur. Summary The powerful first chapter of the book "Lord of the Flies" introduces us to the main characters of the story, and outlines the island (setting) on which the story is based. We begin to get an idea of the characters' personalities as the stranded schoolchildren discover that they are on an island alone without any adults after a plane crash. Simon, Jack and Ralph begin to further explore the island and we start to experience the intense love-hate relationship between Jack and Ralph. Characters At the beginning of the book we are introduced to a young boy who is forward thinking, responsible and has just survived a plane crash. His name is Ralph and despite his 'fair hair' and being described as having a good appearance, he is not meek and after imposing his superiority over 'Piggy' by thinking nothing of him, he finds a conch and through bringing together every boy on the island is elected chief of their 'tribe' almost unanimously. It is evident by the early on in this chapter that Ralph is going to be the main protagonist of this book. He is forward thinking and great at talking to others and ensuring maximum merit throughout the tribe. 'Piggy' himself does not reveal his name to the audience, simply insisting that Ralph doesn't call him by'' that ''name (which he immediately does) and this boy is a stark contrast to Ralph. Piggy is an overweight, spectacled boy with a London accent and asthma (sucks to it) who thinks rather more logically than Ralph and appears to also be more knowledgable as he comes up with a lot of ideas and reveals a lot to Ralph such as the setting of war and the fact that conches can be used to make sound. Although intellectually superior, Piggy is highly unfit and as such becomes a source of amusement to the other boys rather than the intelligent boy he is. Another prominant figure in this chapter is the leader of choir 'Jack Merridew'; this boy is immediately dominant and appears to show little respect to even Ralph even though all the other boys are awed by his leadership qualities. After failing to kill a pig on his trek with Ralph and Simon, he becomes aggressive and begins stabbing his knife into trees. It seems that Jack is a boy who wants to be seen as the strongest, by himself and others, as such, when Ralph is picked as chief over him (except by Jack's choir) Jack is fairly embarassed. When given the role of Lead Huntsman he seems to forgive Ralph though. Simon is less prominant and appears to just be a light-headed choir boy, his first interaction with the other boys is fainting. Despite this, he appears cool-headed and since Ralph invites him on the trek to discover whether they are on an island, a friendship develops between he, Ralph and Jack. Because of this, it seems that they will become the main characters in this book along with Piggy who was left behind. There are a number of other boys introduced in this chapter, notably the twins Sam and Eric and the choir but it is revealed that a lot of boys of various ages are actually on the island, the oldest are around Ralph's age and the youngest are presumably under 6 years of age. Setting Presumably the first location which the boys had to traverse was the 'jungle', scarred by the plane crash, this massive expanse of thick foliage bears fruit among other plants and is found to contain pigs. Although the major source of food on the island, the jungle is difficult to navigate and most boys seemed happier on the beach by the lagoon where light and open space was plentiful rather than scarce. The beach borders a majority of the island and is sandy towards the tide and grassy with large palm trees towards the top. Some of these trees had fallen in the place where the boys originally collected and this was used as an assembly point from then on by using the trees as benches and the grassy area as a place where boys soaked from swimming can sit comfortably without getting sandy. Although the sea is described as tropical and from a higher point in the island a coral reef was even seen off the coast, most boys choose to swim in what is described as 'the lagoon' presumably because it resembled a large pool and was heated by the sun until it was 'like a bath'. This probably reminded a lot of boys of home and could find peace here in the pool. Further from assembly point; on the other side of the island in fact, was a large cliff and outcrop of pink rock. This is probably an extension of what defines the island, a large mountain of pink rock which extends very high up from the jungle. Themes and Writing Style In this first chapter the themes of the book are already quite prominant, that of leadership, savagery (?), segregation (bullying) and desperation. Leadership is shown by Ralph through his use of the conch and control over the rest of the boys. "Ralph, Ralph!" is exclaimed when the boys voted for a chief, and this clearly shows their need for leadership and the fact they wanted Ralph to forfill this role and become chief. Also, the way the children treat the conch from the moment they find it shows how much they treasure the leadership to begin with. This massively aids the story later on as the strong hierachy begins to collapse. Segregation is also shown in this first chapter; an example is the use of "Piggy!" This is the harsh calling of names to segregate the child from the group and perhaps foreshadows the darkness which becomes a main theme at the end of the book. Furthermore, the mocking of Piggy could be considered forshadowing as he is seen as an outcast because of his differences. 'Sucks to your asthma' is a phrase commonly said by Ralph showing this disrespect, and seeing as he is the leader of the children, this is emphasized. Conclusion and Final Comment Overall, this chapter is very effective in hooking the reader as they are immediately submerged into the story. The whole book starts with Ralph stranded on the island, and this helps to engage the reader. Furthermore, this chapter introduces some key themes and explains the outline and premise of the story quickly. Many characters are also developed, as mentioned, including Piggy, Ralph and Jack. Because these are introduced from an early stage, it makes the emotions of fear and worry produced later in the book more powerful.